


Tout Oublier

by inpiniteu



Category: NU'EST, Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Exes, Feelings, Getting Back Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-08-22 15:19:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16600469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inpiniteu/pseuds/inpiniteu
Summary: “So, that’s five reasons. Fine, give me five dates, then, Jonghyun-ah.” Minhyun says, clasping both of Jonghyun’s hands into his and ignoring his last sentence. “Five dates to make you fall in love with me again and prove you wrong.”Jonghyun chokes on his spit. “This sounds like a bad movie title.”





	Tout Oublier

**Author's Note:**

> It _is_ a happy fic, or will turn to be, just so you know.
> 
> Title comes from [Angèle's "Tout Oublier"](https://open.spotify.com/track/06O3hxudc6V0BOuoCFSy71). 
> 
> To J., for your ears and eyes or well, your support and help. ♡

Kim Jonghyun rarely has bad days, but today is definitely one of those.

In retrospective, his day did start well. He woke up early—which for him means before his third alarm went off—, managed to get a seat in the subway and a vanilla latte, courtesy of his secretary Nayoung, was waiting on his desk when he arrived.

Everything went sour quickly after that, from the intern having a panic attack at the mere sight of blood to losing a dog on the operation table after three hours of surgery.

But being set up on a blind date only to find out your match is your ex-boyfriend? This just takes the cake. A huge cake with a cherry on top.

Even the live music band playing in the small italian _trattoria_ isn’t enough to cover his gasp of surprise at the sight of the figure sitting at table 27, his eyes roaming over the face of the man who made him discover love. 

Love, and the pain that comes along with such a feeling.

He considers retrieving his coat from the lobby and walking out while he still can, aware that he hasn’t been spotted by his former boyfriend yet. In his opinion, it isn’t too late to forget that today happened and hiding under his covers with the ninth season of _Fairy Tail_ on his laptop sounds like the best thing that could happen to him.

It wouldn’t be the right thing to do though, and there is no doubt in Jonghyun’s mind that Minki would be pissed at him for ditching the date. Not that Minki actually would say something because he must know that Jonghyun has even more of a right to be livid at the stunt his best friend pulled. He must know and that’s why he isn’t answering his phone right now.

Jonghyun scoffs, glaring at his phone and jabbing it in the pocket of his jeans out of annoyance. Choi Minki might be a smartass, but that won’t save him from Jonghyun’s wrath for long.

He will kick Minki’s ass for hooking him up with his ex deliberately later but first, he’s going to have a chat with Hwang Minhyun.

“What are you doing here?” He asks in lieu of a greeting, sitting down in front of his ex-boyfriend. Both his presence and question seem to take Minhyun by surprise and Jonghyun feels bad for loving the upper hand he gets from it. 

Minhyun gapes. “Jonghyun? What—? Are you here for the blind date?” He seems shocked, and somehow, Jonghyun is relieved that he isn’t an active participant in this mess. He only nods and Minhyun groans, running a hand through his hair, some even falling into his eyes.

The urge to fix the wayward strands of hair is strong but Jonghyun only locks his hands together under the table, hidden from Minhyun’s view. Instead, he pours a glass of water for himself, downing it one and putting the glass back on the table loud enough to make Minhyun look at him.

“Hello, Kim Jonghyun,” Minhyun greets with a little laugh, cheeks a bit flushed from either embarrassment or the glass of wine in front of him, which Jonghyun notices is almost empty. Probably the latter, if he has to figure it out, because the Hwang Minhyun he’s dated for eight years is a pitiful lightweight.

It’s cute, though, and makes him realize he’s been nothing but rude so far. “Hi,” he greets back in a timid voice, not meeting Minhyun’s eyes. “I’m sorry, today has just been shitty so far and I flipped when I saw you.”

Minhyun waves his apology away and Jonghyun is torn between feeling grateful for his former boyfriend’s understanding or wanting to rip that damn smile off. He can’t be the only one bothered by the situation, can he? “I guess being matched on a blind date with your ex does that to people.”

“Well, not to you apparently,” Jonghyun grumbles, his fingers fidgeting the cutlery on the table. Minhyun breaks into another laugh, this one more forced but Jonghyun is done with apologizing. What he wants to know is to find out who the culprits for this blind date are and go home to plan their demise. That, or sleep, because the dark circles under his eyes have taken Nayoung quite a long time to cover up.

“I’m just as surprised as you are, trust me, and thinking of a hundred ways to kill Seongwoo for this,” Minhyun confesses, and Jonghyun should’ve known. Of course, Ong Seongwoo would be on board. Of course. Minhyun’s best friend had never stayed from trouble for too long, which is bad for Jonghyun considering Choi Minki’s middle name might as well be trouble.

“Count me in,” Jonghyun says. “I also have great ideas to kick Minki’s ass if you’re interested.”

Minhyun doesn’t look surprised. “So, that’s Seongwoo’s partner in crime,” he states, taking a sip of wine. “I should have known.”

 _You and me both_ , Jonghyun thinks, but their respective best friends are troublemakers with brain cells and good acting skills. Crazy scheming fuckers, the two of them.

Jonghyun is glad he got all the answers he wanted and he’s about to take his leave when one of the waitresses stops by their table. “Can I take your order, gentlemen?” she asks in a high-pitch voice, grating to the ear’s voice. 

He shares a look with Minhyun, whose grimace has Jonghyun biting down on his lower lip to refrain himself from laughing. 

They’re too lost into each other to catch her glare, their focus only switching to her once she clears her throat and pointedly looks at them, her smile dropping a little. “Oh, a _pizza capricciosa_ , please.”

Jonghyun gives her an apologetic smile once she turns to look at him after jotting down Minhyun’s order. “Oh, nothing for m—” 

Minhyun’s pleading eyes makes him stop in his tracks. Damn those eyes, he thinks, and he’s running a hand over his face to calm down as he asks the waitress for some recommendations. A dinner won’t hurt, he guesses, and the smell of the food is quite appetizing to his starving self.

He barely listens to her suggestions, going with the special of the day in the end. Today’s specials are always safe choices and Kim Jonghyun likes safe.

“So, how are you?” Minhyun asks, sounding tentative even to Jonghyun’s ears. 

“I’m good,” he blurts out immediately, nodding his head. Minhyun raises an eyebrow at that and Jonghyun feels like hiding under the table for being such a loser. Instead, he flashes the most convincing smile he can muster and hopes it’s enough. “I’m good, Minhyun-ah.” 

The familiarity he’s addressing Minhyun with feels less awkward than in his mind and grants him a smile from his former lover. It’s pointless to consider Hwang Minhyun like a stranger, not when there’s not an inch of his body Jonghyun’s lips and hands haven’t conquered. 

He can let himself indulge in that little familiarity, right? It’s either that or walking on eggshells the whole evening. The choice is easy, for once, but Jonghyun won’t complain.

“What about you?” He ends up asking as Minhyun seems lost in his thoughts. “Did Sujin noona finally get married to Aron hyung?”

As Minhyun’s face lights up at the mention of his sister, Jonghyun thinks there’s a chance to get through this date unscathed.

 

* * *

 

At least and no matter what happens, the date won’t be a complete disaster for Jonghyun. The dish he’s ordered— _Tagliatelle ai carciofi_ , he learns—is delicious and he makes a mental note to find the waitress before leaving and thank her for her suggestion.

“Slow down,” Minhyun says and he’s grinning as he reaches over, wiping some sauce off the corner of his lips. 

Jonghyun blinks. “What are you—” It seems to be enough for Minhyun, who freezes mid-movement and covers his embarrassment with a cough. “I’m sorry, I just—”

“Minhyun,” Jonghyun whispers. Minhyun hums and Jonghyun doesn’t know how to say it, doesn’t know if he wants to say it. What would have made him giggle once only makes uncomfortable, though. “Can you take your hand off, please?”

“Oh.” Minhyun gasps, immediately removing his hand from Jonghyun’s cheek. His ears are flushed red and this time, Jonghyun knows it’s not from the wine. 

It’s enough to make him grin, and he’s ready to say or do anything to forget that the skin Minhyun touched is tingling and teasing sounds like a good option, or rather, the best he has. “Am I not dreaming? Is Emperor Hwang losing his cool?” he says playfully, referring to the nickname Minhyun’s colleagues had given him. Building an empire of gold had started as a mere joke between the financial analysts, but to Jonghyun, everything was possible with Hwang Minhyun.

Even having him on his knees and sucking you off, just to make you forget how awful your day had been.

Minhyun chuckles, rubbing the back of his neck and Jonghyun is grateful for the distraction. “You remember that?” he asks. _Of course_ , Jonghyun wants to say, I remember everything. He doesn’t, though, and just nods.

Silence settles over them after that, both of them busying themselves with the food and their thoughts. 

It stays like that until Minhyun clears his throat. “It feels like nothing has changed,” he says offhandedly, busying himself by cutting his pizza into regular-sized pieces. Jonghyun has always hated that quirk of his, just like Minhyun always frowned at him whenever Jonghyun ate his pizza slices with his hands, his fingers ending up greasy and dirty more often than not.

“Ah,” Jonghyun says after a minute, not knowing how to reply. What does Minhyun even know? They haven’t seen each other in five years, have managed to run around the same social circles without ever meeting once. It greatly helped that Jonghyun isn't exactly the most social person ever, preferring the comfort of his home and bed to the outsides. 

Jonghyun licks his lips, noticing how dry they are. “I’ve gotten a tattoo,” he blurts out, missing the flicker of surprise in Minhyun’s eyes. Jonghyun had always deemed that tattoos weren’t for him, that nothing about him, his thoughts or life were significant enough to deserve indelible ink. 

The tattoo over his heart would beg differently, though. Most days, he’s even able to forget it even exists, able to pretend that he’s moved on and Jonghyun has also learnt that the lies come off easier with a loose tongue from alcohol, when faceless guys he picked up from bars are fucking him into the mattress and asking what it means. 

_Nothing, just a drunken mistake_ , he would say, closing his eyes in case they would realize the words were about them, not the moon and the star inked on his chest. 

He’s changed, but only because their break-up made him change. If veterinary school had been hard on him, it had been nothing compared to learning how to live without Minhyun. Jonghyun had managed to get back up— learning how to make decisions on his own, to wake up and fall asleep alone, with no one to remind him to eat or clean in between. 

He had managed to pick himself up again, but some pieces of what made _him_ who he was got lost in the process. Got lost and were still nowhere to be found.

Nowhere he could find them, because Minhyun had taken part of his happiness, his feelings, his heart with him. 

In all cases, the date won’t be a complete disaster because he might finally get them and himself back. Perhaps, after tonight, he will be able to accept to let Im Youngmin take him on a date. He will be able to love again, or learn how to with time.

But right now, when Minhyun tilts his head to the side and looks at him like he’s just discovered the eighth wonder of the world, Jonghyun realizes it might be a little more complicated than that. 

A whole lot more complicated than that.

 

* * *

 

Lingering on the sidewalk in front of the now closed restaurant isn’t exactly how Jonghyun expected his evening to end but neither of them seem willing to put an end to their date. Funny, how life can turn out.

“Can you believe we got kicked out?” Minhyun asks, wrapping his scarf tighter around his neck. December in Seoul are usually cold but this year’s winter is impressively tough and Jonghyun blows hot air on his hands to warm them up. “Three hours flew by just like that.”

“Yeah,” Jonghyun says. While their date had been filled with a few awkward silences or embarrassed laughs, it had turned out to be more pleasant than what Jonghyun had imagined. “It was fun,” is what he settles for. Fun is neutral, doesn’t mean anything more than that, doesn’t leave him sounding like a desperate fool.

Minhyun hums. “Fun, yes, and I wish I could spend more time with you,” he starts, making Jonghyun look at him. Minhyun is frowning at his watch, though, which looks expensive and heavy on Minhyun’s wrist. “But I have to leave.”

Jonghyun nods, shrugging. “It’s fine, Minhyun-ah. I should go home, too. It was great seeing you again and—”

“Jonghyun,” calls Minhyun and Jonghyun’s mouth close. “Let me take you on a date again—Wait—Can you tell me why we broke up, Jonghyun-ah?” 

The mood dampens just like that and the playfulness that could be seen in Minhyun’s eyes is gone, replaced by a sad smile that makes Jonghyun sigh, his arms limp by his sides. 

From the corner of his eyes, he can see Minhyun grimacing and scratching the back of his neck, probably feeling bad for the frown that has settled itself between Jonghyun’s brows. It only deepens, though, as he ponders over how to answer, over what exactly made them decide to call it quits. 

It was a rather clean break-up, but one with no particular reason. It had just felt like it was what was supposed to happen, felt like their time was up. 

“The sparks weren’t just there anymore,” he trails off, remembering how mechanical their relationship had turned out to be during their last months, both of them even avoiding to touch each other if they could. “We wanted different things in life and were too different from each other,” he continues, feeling weird at talking about their break-up so openly. “We wanted to give each other a chance to experience something else, and,” Jonghyun stops, his voice getting lower, “there was your father too. It just wasn’t meant to be, Minhyun-ah.”

“So, that’s five reasons. Fine, give me five dates, then, Jonghyun-ah.” Minhyun says, clasping both of Jonghyun’s hands into his and ignoring his last sentence. “Five dates to make you fall in love with me again and prove you wrong.”

Jonghyun chokes on his spit. “This sounds like a bad romance movie title.” It’s not a refusal, merely a pathetic attempt to dodge the subject and win him some time to gather himself. Hwang Minhyun can’t just drop a bomb on him like this, damn it. 

Minhyun snorts at that but his smile doesn’t falter. And it’s all it takes for Jonghyun to know he’s not going to find a way out of this. 

Once Hwang Minhyun wants something, he will stop at nothing to get it. More often than not, it had been the cause of many arguments, of Jonghyun wanting a bit more consideration and of Minhyun trying to have it all. This time, Jonghyun thinks he can indulge him. He’s curious, after all, curious of where this could be going.

“So, yes or yes?” Minhyun asks once more, even singing to Twice’s song. It’s oddly reminding Jonghyun of all the mornings he had been woken up by Minhyun singing in the shower, belting powerful ballads that were a bit too sad to start the day with. 

The memories are comforting, bringing him to better times and Jonghyun begins to realize that he might have missed Hwang Minhyun more than what he had let on, after all. Just a bit; a tiny, tiny, _tiny_ bit. Yes, just that, just enough for him to accept that crazy proposal.

The wide grin Minhyun flashes him feels like he’s taken the good decision and for a second, Jonghyun is sure Minhyun is going to hug him. He doesn’t, but instead steps closer and cups Jonghyun’s face in his hands. “I want to kiss you.” 

Jonghyun’s eyes widen, surprise evident in them. Whatever is happening is too fast for him and the hands he’s up on Minhyun’s chest are so close to pushing him away. “Would you let me, Jonghyun-ah?” 

The Minhyun he knew wasn’t so bold, but then again, _his_ Minhyun had never asked before kissing him either. It’s a brand new story they’re writing, one with two different people, neither familiar or unfamiliar.

Jonghyun’s lips are trembling but he shakes his head. “Not yet.” The words are out of his mouth before he can think them through and he steps away. He needs distance to clear his head, a lot of it. “I just don’t kiss on the first date, you know.”

It’s a lie and they both know it. Their first kiss happened right on their first date, which was just the two of them watching a movie in the living room of Jonghyun’s family while his parents went shopping for groceries. They had laughed over the lameness of it for years but they were both fond of the sweet memory, as sweet as the chaste kiss they shared and the giggles that stuck to their lips.

“Not yet,” Minhyun repeats, too focused on the implication behind those words laying heavy between them to call Jonghyun on his bullshit and Jonghyun averts his eyes, the intensity of Minhyun’s stare hard to shake off and making him feel a kind of nervous he hasn’t been in forever.

He’s tempted to take his words back, to even walk away quickly if he needs to but the chuckle that slips past Minhyun’s lips instantly breaks the mood and takes some tension off his shoulders. “I think I can deal with that,” Minhyun says, nudging Jonghyun’s arm with his own.

Jonghyun doesn’t answer, doesn’t how to answer but it doesn’t deter Minhyun. “Just promise me one thing, Jonghyun-ah. Let me kiss you on our next date.”

Jonghyun turns to look at his ex-boyfriend in the eye. For the first time this evening, he wishes Minhyun could’ve called him differently, would’ve used a nickname he hasn’t heard in so long but he quickly shakes those thoughts away. 

A not-so-bad date can’t erase years of heartache. It’s going to take more than that, more than those damn eyes staring at him and perhaps, just perhaps, he isn’t ready for the force that is Hwang Minhyun. 

Minhyun who is standing under the streetlight and waiting for his answer, looking like a modern prince in his long beige coat and wool scarf, his light brown hair tousled by the wind. 

Years might have passed but Minhyun is still the most beautiful man Jonghyun has ever seen. 

“We will see,” he grumbles but his eyes are full of mirth as they look at Minhyun and he can’t stop himself from adding, “Only if you’re a good boy, Hwang Minhyun.”

Said man breaks into a laugh, the loud sound contrasting with the image of chic businessman he’s giving off and Jonghyun breaks into a small smile. This Minhyun might not be as unfamiliar as he thought upon entering the restaurant and it’s a comforting thought, one that makes the whole five deal a little less overwhelming.

He’s not exactly looking forward to them just yet—though, his competitive side disagrees, eager to show Minhyun five dates won’t change a thing between them—, but his more rational side thinks and knows that with time, he could just end up excited by those dates and just as in love with Hwang Minhyun as he once was.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> This is something I'm going to work on slowly, because of other writing commitments among other things. It's a special fic to me, though, who took me out of my writing slump and also, well, makes me explore new feelings.
> 
> I hope you can stay with me as Jonghyun and Minhyun will go on their dates and will find themselves on the path of love one more time.
> 
> You can find me on [CuriousCat](https://curiouscat.me/bugipaca) or on [Twitter](http://twitter.com/astropicals) ♡


End file.
